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Predictive Value of the Concentration in Serum of Total 3α-Hydroxy Bile Acids in the Diagnosis of Hepatobiliary Disease

1982; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3109/00365528209182050

1502-7708

Kristían Línnet, H. Kelbák, Per Frandsen,

Liver Disease and Transplantation

Fasting serum levels of total 3 alpha-hydroxy bile acids were measured in 163 consecutive patients, who clinically were suspected of having a hepatobiliary disorder. By means of routine biochemical liver tests and paraclinical investigations the clinical suspicion was confirmed in 95 patients and disproved in the other 68 patients. A comparison between this diagnostic grouping and the serum bile acids levels showed that the predictive value of serum concentrations above a discrimination value of 10 mumol/l--that is, the predictive value of a positive test--was 1.0 (0.94-1.0), whereas the corresponding predictive value of a negative test was 0.66 (0.56-0.75). Thus, fasting serum levels of total 3 alpha-hydroxy bile acids may be used as a highly specific and moderately sensitive diagnostic test for hepatobiliary disorders. Furthermore, the study showed that the nosographic sensitivity of total 3 alpha-hydroxy bile acids in patients with verified cirrhosis was significantly greater than that of serum bilirubins and not significantly different from those of the other routine biochemical liver tests.